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Trent Reznor back on Twitter? Five classic tweets from the Nine Inch Nails rocker

December 4, 2009 | 12:40
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The Nine Inch Nails pigs started marching Thursday night when Trent Reznor peeked up from the depths of married life with a message on his Twitter account.

The Twitter page @Trent_Reznor has remained quiet since October when Reznor returned briefly to drop two messages -- one about the anniversary of his first album release and another about a fan project compiling concert videos. Before that, there was a gap since July.

He returned on Thursday, saying simply: "Is this thing on?" Minutes later, he addressed the much-publicized eBay auctions of some of his now-defunct band's gear. "Just clearing out some storage spaces for a new beginning," he wrote.

Once upon a time, Reznor was one of the most-buzzed-about stars on Twitter. Pop & Hiss has pulled out five of our favorite tweets from the 44-year-old musician.

1. Not a fan of Chris Cornell's album

You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell's record? Jesus.

Reznor wasn't digging former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Cornell's "Scream." Our own August Brown called it a "fascinating but heartbreaking document of how many wrong decisions one can make in writing and performing a record."

2. "Year Zero" something or other

At this stage in my career, there's few profession-related situations that truly make me nervous. Walking into one right now.

Hours later, that cryptic tweet in April was followed by an ever-so-slightly more revealing, "YZ is alive." "YZ" is an abbreviation for the Nine Inch Nails record "Year Zero," a concept album with a storyline set in a dystopian America. It was augmented by an online reality game.

Reznor has spoken publicly about his desire to turn the idea into a TV series, after talks with HBO. The tweets perhaps give some early indication of what's to come.

3. Bladder control

starting to lose control of body functions, may have just pulled a Fergie and peed in my pants a little.

In April, we got a look into the physical hardships endured in the touring process. Those obstacles very much parallel the Black Eyed Peas' singer's 2005 "oopsies" in her pants.

Finding true love isn't easy. Reznor had it on the mind in March. But at that time, he was exploring a romantic future with keyboards.

5. What are you doing?

hanging on the bus

Reznor's first tweet in August last year (as @treznor, before changing his user name) was inspiring in how uninteresting it was.

Twitter's mundane question it posed to users -- "What are you doing?" -- has since changed to "What's happening?" to hopefully elicit more interesting observations. But this first tweet showed that even the most fascinating celebrities can be fairly boring at times.